American Successes

Desert Orchid

Desert Orchid

Senior Jockey
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
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I wasn't aware an American horse had won yesterday but it looks like they've absolutely cleaned up on the betting front.

The trainer was refreshingly honest after today's win and the price of tomorrow's runner has been slashed right, left and centre.

I'm afraid I couldn't concentrate on what John Velazquez was saying after the race. There was an immensely attractive woman standing just behind him looking just dropdead gorgeous :<3::<3:
 
Jealous was slashed to 12's after Strike The Tiger won and Yogaroo is 7/2 from 7/1 for tommorow's race.

They're asking 5/4 on betfair about Aegean winning on Friday.
 
Wes Ward is quickly becoming my favourite American, (and displacing Homer Simpson is no mean achievement)
 
Desert Orchid said:
I wasn't aware an American horse had won yesterday but it looks like they've absolutely cleaned up on the betting front.

The trainer was refreshingly honest after today's win and the price of tomorrow's runner has been slashed right, left and centre.

I'm afraid I couldn't concentrate on what John Velazquez was saying after the race. There was an immensely attractive woman standing just behind him looking just dropdead gorgeous :<3::<3:
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must say, all this US connection had passed me by as well
 
The point will come of course when they are a lay because of the hype and that could be in the Albany. Yesterdays race was a bad one. Todays was a good quality race but the winner has blistering speed. It could be different in the Albany. What distance is albany?
 
I came to them largely by accident on Monday night when I was lookign at some desparate figures for the Windsor Castle. This naturally led me to take a look at the American horse who had run 52.79 over 4.5F's on dirt!!! Spent about 3 hours devising some kind of formula to try and convert this into a hypothetical turf performance for Doncaster, and York, and then finally had a go at some applied logic to project a time for Ascot (took about nearly as long to write it all out).

It was one of those moments where you're suddenly looking at figures that kind of defy belief and make you wonder what mistake you've made. I guess the penny's dropped now, but it was always worth taking a chance that the figures were right, and at the prices they were allowed to be sent off at worth a few shekels to find out. These things either go spectacularly wrong, or (like Ialayos at Haydock a couple of weeks ago) they work like a dream
 
One thing about Ascot is I bloody hate the americans coming over here and nabbing prize money its a bloody scandal!. Their horses are trained different and have throughly exposed the English game for a quick buck and im absolutely gutting, I want these English hallmark races being preserved for the history of our game and its sad to see them come over and ruin the whole heritage of our Ascot 2yo races because you won't see these horses for love nor money running here again especially ones the big boys are out in August and September. I would also like to mention their attitude has been rubbish and showen no respect for our sport the jockey on the winner today almost felt sheepish to celebrate and thats saying something.
 
ItalianStallion said:
One thing about Ascot is I bloody hate the americans coming over here and nabbing prize money its a bloody scandal!. Their horses are trained different and have throughly exposed the English game for a quick buck and im absolutely gutting, I want these English hallmark races being preserved for the history of our game and its sad to see them come over and ruin the whole heritage of our Ascot 2yo races because you won't see these horses for love nor money running here again especially ones the big boys are out in August and September. I would also like to mention their attitude has been rubbish and showen no respect for our sport the jockey on the winner today almost felt sheepish to celebrate and thats saying something.
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You having a laugh? Wes Ward has been very shrewd in exposing that we don't train our two year olds to be proper sprinters. He's a genius and I have nothing but the highest of respect for him.

His performances infront of the media have been very exceptional too, something else his UK conterparts could learn something from.
 
Quick hit and run and back of to America to never be seen again, probally nervous having to wait a few more days in this country I bet they take Agean straight off the racecourse and onto a plane quick cab to gatwick coverd up in sunglasses and hats and celebrate on the plane
 
What would you prefer they do IS - get a keg of Bud out and drape the stars and stripes around the jockey and horse?

They'd be accused of being disrespectful if they did that.

Funny that Wes Ward always seems to have time for the media yet our British trainers don't.

The best horse won and he's showing our trainers up in a major way :)
 
I agree with Gamla Stan, Ward has put his English contemporaries to shame.

I've read account when he said he recieved an invitation and was quite flattered. He duly thought, yes I will go. He then assembled a team and galloped them Keenland. He then did a public gallop at River Downs to select the ones who were takign to what he thought was the turf conditions most likely to resemble Ascot, and the rest as they say is history.

He's bought a team over here, he's been polite and open, all he's done is point out that they train differently in America. Any arrogance I perceive has been with the English punters who've dismissed them and haven't bothered to check their race times out and work out how far ahead of our donkeys these animals were/ are. Long may such English arrogance continue (but I fear it won't now)
 
No wonder our game is in the state it is when it's fans are more interested in stateside, "our donkeys" "our crap trainers" they are so crap that its kept you entertained and interested for over 10 years, think you need to show our game some more respect what will you want 4.5f races next and backwards colts running in the brocklesby?
 
Warbler said:
Any arrogance I perceive has been with the English punters who've dismissed them and haven't bothered to check their race times out and work out how far ahead of our donkeys these animals were/ are. Long may such English arrogance continue (but I fear it won't now)
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Guilty as charged on the former but I'll be upping my game in future. Hats off to those who put the work in to take a punt on the horse.

The one tomorrow and Aegean on fri will be interesting.
 
ItalianStallion said:
No wonder our game is in the state it is when it's fans are more interested in stateside, "our donkeys" "our crap trainers" they are so crap that its kept you entertained and interested for over 10 years, think you need to show our game some more respect what will you want 4.5f races next and backwards colts running in the brocklesby?
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Why does it have to be one or the other? Who said our trainers were crap or horses donkeys?

Absolutely no doubt lots more Americans will be over in future years so you may as well get used to it.
 
It's no different to European horses going and mopping up their middle distance races at the Breeders Cup.
 
We have the best 10-12f horses in the world IMO and the best 14f+ horses.

They have superior 2yo sprinters and the Aussies have great turf sprinters.

The sooner they have a 10-12f and a 7-8f equivalent of the Global Sprint Challenge the better IMO.

Wes Ward is a genius - I can't believe there's anyone out there who wants to keep Royal Ascot all old school tie, winners for the boys - Haggas, Stoute, Gosden, Dunlop every year except for the Group 1's which O'Brien takes home with him.

Come and have a go if you think your good enough should be the way all racing nations think and they've come over, proved they're so much better trained and quicker out the gates and taken the prize money (albeit poor compared to the US dirt purses)
 
Breeders cup is different, its end of the season and its the big hoo-ra the whole fun and interest is the anticipation of horses who've done well throughout their season in their homeland come together and battle, nothing wrong with this.

Why not start running them in maidens at Catterick and plot them for the race, do it properly and earn the respect of the British racing fans.
 
ItalianStallion said:
Breeders cup is different, its end of the season and its the big hoo-ra the whole fun and interest is the anticipation of horses who've done well throughout their season in their homeland come together and battle, nothing wrong with this.

Why not start running them in maidens at Catterick and plot them for the race, do it properly and earn the respect of the British racing fans.
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And what about the French, Irish and Australian trainers? Think I will leave it with that as you've lost the plot and you are the only one with remotely negative comments about the Americans or indeed any foreign horse coming over. It was electric watching her today.
 
ItalianStallion said:
Why not start running them in maidens at Catterick and plot them for the race, do it properly and earn the respect of the British racing fans.
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Yeah why not send American horses to Catterick to compete for a couple of thousand pounds when they can run for infinately more in the States just so they can earn the totally meaningless gong of respect of a public who appear to be either to lazy or not imaginative enough to dig into what they were doing in America, and then take a meanignful opinion. Why would he, or nay one need to earn their respect?

Let's not forget that Ascot sent invitations out to the Americans. Ward doesn't appear to have contemplated coming here otherwise. He was flattered to recieve one, and rightly felt that if he were going to do it, then why shouldn't he do it properly.

Perhaps you'd rather he strap a fridge to back of his demonstrably superior animals so they come last and we, (the superior British) could then laugh at him. Ha hah hah, silly American thinking he could come here and win at Royal Ascot. Fancy having the audacity to win though, and expose our 2yo's, and in a lot of cases our training methods by proxy, for being the backward and paralysed by conservative thinking.

All that's happened is the notion that Ascot provides the best of best has been punctured in so far as clearly you've been sold a pig in a poke all these years. You've been paying Premiership prices to watch, League 1 2yo's. Credit to Ascot though, they can claim to be offering the best with a greater sense of conviction now rather than pushing these frauds on us (Canford Cliffs excepted). I wonder if he's American anywhere:whistle:
 
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That's the point though IS - it's mainly just Europe and America at the Breeders Cup, we nearly had Cesario from Japan one year and Horse Chestnut nearly ran for South Africa (they got him to the US and then he broke down at Calder) - this at Royal Ascot is really starting to challenge boundaries, the international competitors are coming over.

The Aussie's are thinking "hang on - we can win this, lets have a go" and the US trainers will think the same - pretty much the way Cumani, Weld etc. thought about the Melbourne Cup and the way British and Europeans do the Breeders Cup.
 
IS Whats your View on British and Irish trainers sending horses over for the Breeders cup? To the Arlington Million? To Hong Kong?
 
Just as Choisir changed sprinting at Royal Ascot, Wesely War probably has done the same to the juvenile races. He is an absolute champ. As a big fan of US racing and international racing in general, it was great to see him coming over. My friends in America had a pretty universal opinion that Ward was bonkers. He is known for getting his juvis to run fast first time out but they dont seem to improve from race to race and by the end of their 2yo season they are pretty much done. That put me off his horses this week, but after watching Strike the Tiger win at such long odds, I had to put a chunk on today.

Wesley Ward, leading trainer at Royal Ascot!!?!
 
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